Winter Holiday Craft Beer Preview

Where to find this season’s best local craft beer

Story by: Rob Shelley

Winter and Christmas beers have a long, long history. The latest chapter has seen a trend for high alcohol (abv), dark malt beverages to warm you up: often with spices and other traditional Christmas flavors. With Seoul recently being added to Santa’s craft beer “nice” list, you can now “sleigh” your thirst with an unprecedented selection of local holiday beer.

Sweet, Spicy, and Strong from Gorilla Brewing

If you like spicy chocolate treats, you’ll love Gorilla’s new Chocolate Chili Extra Stout. Gorilla got a head-start on the season by releasing this one last month, but it will be truly appreciated during the colder months of December and January. Brewed in London, England at Crate Brewery, this 7.7% stout promises to be the first in a series of “extra stouts” that Gorilla will offer. Brewed with Korean-grown hops and spicy green peppers, as well as cocoa nibs, it’s a smooth, easy-to-sip chocolate stout with just a hint of spicy warmth at the end.

Pints of Hoppy Joe from Hand and Malt

In early November, Brandon Fenner poured me a glass of his then not-quite-finished Black Coffee IPA, straight from the tank at the brewery. A relatively new beer tradition, the emergence of coffee beers offer the comfort of a hot cup of joe on a chilly winter evening. Most coffee beers tend to be dark stouts, a beer style with its own roasty flavor, but Brandon has harnessed the roasted malt and coffee flavors in a well-balanced IPA. The version I tried tilted a little more towards the roasted malt side, but Brandon promised the final version will be even more hop-forward.

The Booth Goes Balinese

On a recent trip with his family to Ubud, on the island of Bali, Chris Shelton fell in love with a spicy ginger tea. He brewed a small test batch upon return and loved that as well. Now he calls this spicy ginger and lemongrass infusion “No Rain”. The ginger and lemongrass give this light-bodied 5.8% beer a surprising copper color. Brewing has just begun and the No Rain should be available just before Christmas Eve.

Staying Warm Baltic-Style with Magpie

My pick for 2015’s best beer, the Last Train Baltic Porter, will be making another stop in Seoul this winter. With Magpie’s brand new Jeju Island brewery fully operational, I expect a new and improved edition. Around the middle of this month, Magpie will also offer a one-off batch of a yet unnamed barleywine, weighing in around 9.5%, and spiced with local figs, cinnamon, and tangerine. At the end of the month, The White Deer (백록) Belgian Wit, brewed with seasonal Korean oranges and ginger, will be released in time for the holidays.

Get Naughty with Hop Mori

Garosu-gil’s Hop Mori brewpub had a Korean record three different pumpkin beers made in-house this past Halloween. That holiday spirit continues later this month with Hop Mori’s Hot Cocoa and Hoppy Holiday releases. The Hot Cocoa is a 6.3% winter seasonal that’s “lightly spiced vanilla bean creme brûlée on the nose followed by chocolate fudge brownies and toasted marshmallows.” The Hoppy Holiday will combine the holiday flavors of “chocolate pound cake, pumpernickel bread, and chai spiced pumpkin pie [in] a double, dry hopped, centennial IPA: creating a multi-layered, flavor splurge.” Brewer Troy Zitzelsberger will also continue his annual tradition: the Seoul Brew Club Festivus Christmas Party. Local homebrewers will be invited to share their best holiday homebrews, while Hop Mori’s excellent food and beer menu will still be available for, you know, the rest of us.

So this holiday season when you’re tempted to exclaim “Choo-wha!” from the frigid Korean winter, head inside a nearby craft beer pub and find comfort in one of these upcoming seasonal ales.

So this holiday season when you’re tempted to exclaim “Choo-wha!” from the frigid Korean winter, head inside a nearby craft beer pub and find comfort in one of these upcoming seasonal ales.